


Phone Calls and Lonely Nights

by sunshinesamizayn



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Dating, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Long-Distance Relationship, Longing, M/M, Pet Names, Phone Calls & Telephones, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-12-13 20:56:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11768217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunshinesamizayn/pseuds/sunshinesamizayn
Summary: Finn and Sami are in a relationship, but they’re on different brands. One evening their nightly phone call talks a different route, and they’re forced to realise things about their relationship they don’t necessarily want to.





	Phone Calls and Lonely Nights

Finn tossed his bags aside and let himself fall onto the bed. His body ached, and his head hurt. It was the kind of hurt where Finn felt like he could locate the outline of his skull, as if his brain had outgrown it.

He rubbed at his shoulder, not the one he’d injured previously, and thank God for that. Even the slightest twinge set his paranoia off, and that was the last thing he needed right now.

He grabbed his phone from his pocket. It was a ritual to text Sami in the evening. Every night they’d video call, and Sami would fuss over any pain Finn said he was feeling. Finn would ask him what he’d been up to and listen as Sami babbled about music and social issues. Other times when they both ached they’d just look at each other. They’d never he completely silent - they’d make light conversation of course, but they both knew it was just background noise.

Finn opened Sami’s contact name, pausing before pressing the call button.

The dial tone played three times before suddenly stopping. Finn had zoned out but he startled at the abrupt cut off.

His phone buzzed. Text from Sami.

_Gimme five minutes x_

Finn typed out a response.

_You alright? X_

His finger hovered over the send button before deleting it. He didn’t want to probe. Sami was honest with his feelings. Sometimes to the point of irritation to some, never to Finn though.

_Ok babe x_

Finn tapped the send button and set the phone aside and shut his eyes.

The hotel room was silent in the way it only can be when you’re alone. Finn hated the silence. He hated how still the air felt around him. He missed the noise Sami made, not from speaking as much as it was just him existing. He missed Sami’s fidgeting and how he’d sit on the bed and reposition himself a thousand times. He missed Sami searching through his suitcase and folding and unfolding his clothes and absent mindedly rearranging things. Even when Sami was asleep (he always fell asleep first) Finn could listen to the soft sound of his breathing, and the rustle of the sheets moving as he tossed and turned in his sleep. It was comforting, and it reminded him he was never alone.

He missed Sami the person, but he missed his presence too. It reminded him how special it was, to have another person love you. It was sharing space with someone. It was sharing your life with someone.

And now Sami was in a different city, a different empty hotel room, probably thinking the exact same thing.

The phone buzzed again and Finn opened his eyes wearily.

_Can you call me now? Phone call please, not video x_

Finn frowned. When Sami asked for him to call in five minutes he presumed he just meant he was busy. Come to think of it, maybe it was unusual that he didn’t specify why. Often if either of them had to postpone their nightly calls, even by five minutes like this they’d say why.

Finn pressed the call button, much more tentatively than he had the first time round. He laid down on the bed, pressing the phone to his ear with a hint of nerves.

“Hey darling,” Finn said, trying to keep as casual as possible unless Sami told him something voluntarily.

“Hey,” Sami replied weakly.

This wasn’t good. Sami was usually one for pet names as much as Finn was. Darling, sweetheart, honey, and lovely were the most common choices.

“How’d yer match go?” Finn asked as he rolled onto his side.

In a way he was glad it wasn’t a video call. He hoped his worrying didn’t show through his voice.

“It was alright. Bit achy but that’s to be expected,” Sami replied.

Sami’s voice sounded strained. His words seemed heavy and slightly distorted. It was as if they were too big and saying them was a struggle.

Finn waited a second, trying to think of what the right thing to do was. Sami would always tell him what was wrong. Always. He was too easy to read to keep up a pretense for long. Finn didn’t want to be intrusive, but at the same time he wanted to know Sami was okay. It hurt thinking about him not being.

“Sweetheart,” Finn began. “You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to, you know that right? So when I ask you this you don’t have to answer me. Are you alright? Is somethin’ on your mind?”

“I’m okay, Finn.”

He did not sound okay.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a silly thing. I get upset over silly things all the time. It’s nothin’ to be ashamed of, I promise.”

He heard a sigh, and a sniff. Finn immediately tensed up. He’d only seen Sami cry once. He’d seen him get tearful at movies a bunch of times, but it wasn’t the same. Seeing Sami cry broke him. As his boyfriend, he felt he owed so much to Sami. He owed it to him to make him happy, and seeing him crying felt like failing. He had never told Sami this, only hugging him and rubbing his back and telling him everything would be alright.

_‘This moment will pass’ he had told him. ‘It hurts right now, and knowin’ it’s going to go away doesn’t stop it hurting in this moment. But it’ll fade. All this hurting, it’s all temporary, but I’m going to love you forever.’_

Finn brought his legs closer to his head. He wished he could to the same now. He wanted to feel the touch of Sami’s skin against his palms, to pull him into a hug and dry his tears. The distance felt so physical sometimes. It was a knot in Finn’s stomach, a rope tied round his waist that pressed against his ribcage and it didn’t hurt as much as it made him sore.

“I just wish you were here,” Sami said softly. “And I know we’re going to see each other next week, and I’m looking forward to that. But I want you here right now. I just want to see you.”

Finn felt the things left unsaid. There were valleys between each word and they were filled with dirty realisations that the distance was hurting them both.

“It’s different from being single,” Sami said. “When I was single I could go to bed on my own and it didn’t feel empty because I didn’t know what it felt like to be full. But now I’m in love with you, and I know what I’m missing.”

Sami stopped, his breathing was audible through the receiver. They were sharp, shaky breaths. Finn’s heart hurt.

“It’s just so frustrating because I _could_ see you. I’d just need to drive for a few hours and I’d be there by morning. It’s all possible, all within my means. And I know, I know that I can’t, We both have schedules and they don’t cross over. I understand that, but I find myself resenting it. I hate this. Not.. not this as in our relationship, but this as in-” He trailed over, and after a second he inhaled deeply. “I find myself hating wrestling. I’ve never done that before - not once in fifteen years. But here I am.” 

“Please don’t hate wrestlin’ because of me, sweetheart. This is where you belong. You’re so unbelievably talented and I love you so much but please don’t okay.”

“It’s not because of you, Finn. It’s not your fault. I just…” Sami trailed off.

Finn took a deep breath in. His eyes were misting over and his heart felt heavy and the air in the hotel room felt so close but so empty at the same time. His body ached in a different way to how it did when he first entered the hotel room. He doubted this would be gone in the morning.

“Tell me what you’d do, if you were here,” Finn said quietly.

A few seconds of silence passed. For a moment, Finn’s heart sped up as he wondered if it was the wrong thing to say.

“I’d kiss you,” Sami said finally. “No, I wouldn’t even do that at first. I’d just look at you. I’d see you in front of me and I’d treasure the fact that you’re here. I’d map you out in my mind so even when you’re gone you’re still vivid when I think of you.”

“Sami,” Finn breathed.

God, the hurt in Sami’s voice was so visible. Finn felt his insides tense up and a lump form in his throat and he shut his eyes tightly.

This entire situation sucked. It fucking sucked. One tiny part of Finn wanted to find the person who put them on different brands and shake them, but mostly he just wanted to ask them why. He didn’t have the energy to be angry.

“I miss you,” Sami blurted out.

They never said that. They both felt it. They both knew they did, but they never said it out loud. Somehow they both knew that’d make it worse, make it real. They had both tried so hard to make the distance feel normal.

_‘It’s like talking in person,’ Finn had told him once._

Except, of course, that he couldn’t rest his hand on Sami’s thigh, and they couldn’t play footsies under a table, and Sami couldn’t rest his head on Finn’s shoulder or pull him into his lap. And Finn couldn’t feel the brush of Sami’s beard on his cheek, or the softness of his lips against his own and -

And Finn missed him.


End file.
